Salle-les-Alpes No. 3

Listed in the Dictionnaire des églises... (1966-) simply as a noteworthy baptismal font. Gattefossé (1970: unpaged) labels it "bénitier", and it is possible that it may have been originally designed for that purpose (the depth of its well is only 21 cm), but it certainly was used for many years -and still is- as the baptismal font for this church. In her description of the history of the church of St-Marcellin, La-Salle-les-Alpes, Gattefossé (ibid.) states that, in 1469, after the death of Gonnet-Queyras, a resident of Bez, a commune of La Salle, a legacy in his name was left for the construction of the Notre-Dame chapel in this church, and that a master Mathieu Guras, a builder from Coni in the Piedmont, was engaged for the works; these lasted four years and costed "220 florins, 30 sétiers de seigle, deux de fèves, 4 quintaux de fromage et 4 quintaux de viandes", as well as the supply of "chaux, du sable, des pierres, des poutres, des cordes, une massue, des coins de fer, des manoeuvres et une maison d'habitation" (ibid). It is believed that this northern Italian master was responsible as well for the porch, the stoups and the font that occupy us. The font has a cylindrical basin of charcoal-grey granite ornamented with a blind arcade of trefoil arches around its sides. The base is a round pedestal with a few rol mouldings and a a lower base trimmed to a square. The present lid is a low conical copper one, but the attic of the presbitery stores another font cover, a polygonal armoire-type with a prismatic top and a Latin cross finial, probably of the 19th century [cf. Images area]. The basin itself has clear evidence of previous modifications for what lids may have covered it: two hinges, a cut side and a large repair area on the upper rim, probably the result of forceful hardware removal, as usual. [NB: our gratitude to the friendly M. l'abbé Eugene Grossan at La Salle-les-Alpes for his help and all the information he shared with us; special thanks for the trip to the presbitery attic to document the old font cover] There are several other interesting stoups in this church [cf. Index entries for La Salle-les-Alpes], two of which are built into the entrances of this church]